Web Worker Daily's Anne Zelenka points through to another good post on building trust in virtual teams, this article by Kelly Pate Dwyer on BNET.
I'm in on the four attributes Dwyer cites for remote managers: passion, availability, patience and reliability, and in on four of her "five ways to build trust." The last, the need to show up face-to-face, is not borne out by the research that underlies "Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?", the Harvard Business Review article we did with Profs Ann Majchrzak and Arvind Molhatra. That said, here's Dwyer's good list:
- Be available. Don’t let employee calls go to voicemail. When you absolutely can’t be reached, reply ASAP.
- Beware of using sarcasm and teasing in distance interactions, like email and conference calls, where signals can easily get crossed.
- Handle sensitive issues with discretion. One team member might tell Belmont that another is having a bad day. He’ll immediately call the person having the bad day, without exposing the colleague who told him.
- Communicate in a variety of ways (email, phone, in person, etc) and often.
- Visit employees on their turf. It shows respect for their time and interest in their life outside the job.
